Own an older vehicle? better start stocking up on spare parts.

I guess I'll start stocking up on my Puch & Motobecane moped parts. :)

Worthwhile projects may be pursued to, well, impressive results:

A year or so ago, I saw on the web a little Solex car.When I was at Tan Son Nhut in 1964, I bought a new Solex Moped to ride around on Base.The left rear part of the frame cracked.I took it to Motor Pool and got it welded up.Later on, I gave the Solex to one of our Vietnamese laundry girls.Soon after that, she sold the Solex to somebody.

What the HELL is THAT?!?!?!

Wait...wait...don't tell me...

But, what *IS* it?!?!

It only has two wheels, and no motor!!

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/ wrote:

Small production pre-war British handbuilt. One of two 1939 Bates model BAR known to still exist. Owner spent quite a bit on this restor0ation.

It's one of the group known as "not Italian"

This is Italian!!

Suicide Shift is noted.

tons of parts available for Moby's Stock & Performance.

As a teenager I had an assortment of interesting bikes, all from yard sales. One was an Italian ten-speed, probably from the early 1970s that had an aluminum frame, aluminum rims, crank, handlebars, etc. I remember the tires weighing more than the front rim did. I hated that bike- it had instant acceleration but absolutely no momentum. When you stopped pedaling you slowed down right away. It was very hilly where I lived and I had to pedal downhill to keep up with all my friends who were merely coasting on their mountain bikes. In an epic road race with a friend of mine I ended up separating the lower half of the frame from the head tube.

Probably my favourite was a Schwinn Typhoon that held the story of only being ridden twice. It had the original tires on it- little nubs and everything, but dry-rotted to the point that they slowly fell apart while I was riding it. When replacing the tires I learned that there is such a thing as a "Schwinn S7 Rim" and you had to special order the size. Later I found some Cheng Shin Wide Whites for it and it looked awesome. I bought them from a Schwinn enthusiast that read the serial # and told me that it was manufactured in Sept 1970. Sadly, it got stolen a couple of months after that. I would probably still be riding it today if I had it (or at least when the weather warms up).

I've got a mountain bike now that I don't like, but I'd rather have a cruiser, methinks.

-J

phaeton wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@m16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com:

Did you clean, regrease and reoil the hubs every year? Makes a world of difference.

A recumbent. Far better for your back.

I've never ridden a recumbant. Can you actually get up to some good speed on one? I only ever see people riding them very leisurely. They always seem a tad dangerous to me for road use.

I don't think I had that racing bike for a year total before I broke the weld. It's too bad because I was winning the race, too. Maybe the bearings and hubs were all gummed up in it (like you suggest), as it was probably approaching 20 years old at the time. My dad picked it up at a yard sale so I don't know its history. Like most yard sale items it probably had sat around for awhile.

-J

phaeton wrote in news:2c9d9cc8-8586-4957-b5c8- snipped-for-privacy@s31g2000yqs.googlegroups.com:

Absolutely. One of the last years I was riding my bike seriously - it could do 60km/h easy - I was being followed by a guy in a recombent for a while who was hardly exerting himself on a long flat stretch of bike path. I was doing 30-40Km/h. He later passed me and I followed behind. I couldn't get any draft off him naturally - him being at least 2' lower to the ground. Less air resistance makes a huge difference on a bike when you're over about 25km/h.

Yeah, sounds very likely. You have to check things out. I had one bike I was riding a year. Next spring when I did the above, I found that the threaded screw holding the back wheel together was broken. You know the one that the nuts on both sides screw on to? Scary.

if it had a freewheel-type rear hub, that's actually not an uncommon failure. Especially so if it had a 6- or 7-speed freewheel.

nate